


Hope and Healing

by BluePlanetTrash



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Chronic Pain, Gen, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Injury Recovery, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 05:00:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12646590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluePlanetTrash/pseuds/BluePlanetTrash
Summary: Ever since Lance fell from the cryopod after the explosion on Arus, he was constantly plagued by crippling pains in his back. He wanted to push through for the rest of the team but one can only stay strong for so long.





	1. Chapter 1

At first, the pain was bearable; the idea that the aching would run its course and he would be back to normal soon created a sense of hope within the boy. As the weeks went by, however, his hope started to dwindle steadily. The constant shooting pain traveling down his back started creating a wall against him, making him unable to function properly. Although he had been living like this since being caught in the explosion at the beginning of their voyage to space a number of months ago, it was only recently that the other paladins began to notice the changes in their blue boy’s behaviour.

“Come on Lance, you can do this,” Shiro encouraged from the sideline with the rest of their team. They were sparring against the gladiators today, focusing on their hand to hand combat one on one. Lance carefully dodged the robots first few swipes of the staff, he was able to bring his bayard up to counter a few of the attacks. He went to dodge the next hit when his back seized up and he was unable to bend the way he wanted to. He caught the butt of the staff in the legs toppling him over and landed with a wheeze on the floor.

“End training sequence,” Shiro called after letting out a tired sigh. Lance pushed himself up and looked over at Shiro shame in his eyes. 

“Lance you’ve done this eight times today but the results are all the same, why aren't you improving?” He asked. Lance looked down at the ground and only looked up when Shiro turned away.

“We’re ending here for the day, rest up,” He announced to the room before sending one last disappointed stare Lance’s way. Lance could feel his throat closing up in guilt and he curled his shoulders into himself. He could hear the others leaving and looked up to see only Keith left.

“When are you going to take this seriously?” Keith spat. Lance winced and curled up further and looked at him wearily. “This isn’t a game, this is war,” 

“I know,” Lance tried to defend himself but was cut off.

“If you know, then you know not to treat training like a joke,” he said shortly before leaving the training deck. Lance could only stare after Keith, the guilt only building in his stomach. Another few weeks passed after the training incident and he could feel his mood decreasing every day; the happy, eager to please young man couldn’t keep the smile on his face, the pain causing him to become bitter and irritable to the others.

“Are you okay man?” Hunk asked one afternoon. He noticed that Lance was stirring around his food goo and had yet to consume one bite.

“Fine,” Lance bit out glaring down at the green gel in front of him. Hunk’s eyebrows furrowed in worry and he put down the bowl in his hand approaching his best friend.

“Are you sure, you’ve been acting really weird for a while now,” He added leaning on the counter between the two of them.

“I said I’m fine,” Lance practically growled stabbing his food with his spoon.

“Well, I’m just saying that if you need to talk to anyone, I’m he-”  Hunk started only to be cut off. 

“Would you shut up?! I said I’m fine!” Lance yelled at the shocked Hunk. “Stop sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong!” 

“Fine,” Hunk frowned angrily. “You don’t need to be so rude about it,” He walked out of the kitchen without a second glance. Lance looked at the door for a few minutes before putting his head in his hands.

“What the hell is wrong with me?” He whispered to himself trying to ignore the throbbing in his back. His head pounded as well, the lack of sleep catching up to him. He would roll around for hours trying to find a comfortable position to rest in. He mourned the relationship he had with his teammates; his recent behaviour had driven them away from him and he doubted that he would be able to regain their trust and loyalty back so easily. He could see Shiro disappointed shake of the head, Keith and Allura’s angry scowls after all his failed training attempts, and Hunk and Pidge’s annoyed glares after he treated them so unkindly over the past few days. He slunk back to his room, praying that he would be able to get a decent amount of sleep for their mission tomorrow. He curled up underneath his blanket, trying to ignore the sensations of pain.

Although the mission was simple; it was imperative that everything goes off without a hitch. The information stored in this outpost would lead the team to even more Galra prisons, that could potentially house Sam Holt. Lance laid on his stomach in the rafters above his teammates; Pidge who was hacking through the system and the others who were protecting her. He shot anything who got close enough to damage the machine. A Galra soldier was sneaking up beside the machine, Lance chuckled at the easy shot and lined them up with the crosshairs. As he went to squeeze the trigger, spasms started traveling down his back making him freeze. His teeth ground together and his eyes rolled into the back of his head at the pain paralyzing him. He missed the Galra smashing the machine thwarting Pidge’s progress, she pulled the drive out of the computer and joined in on the fight. Lance blinked back tears as he came back to the real world, noticing the trouble his friends were in he started laying down cover fire. They fought through back to the lions and took off back to the Castle. Lance gritting his teeth the whole way; his back felt like it was on fire, the spasms weren’t completely gone and it took all he had not to shout out loud. He slowly walked out of Blue and was immediately crowded by the others.

“What the hell Lance!?” Keith shouted. “You had one job!”  
Lance shrunk back, the guilt in his stomach coming back full force.

“I-I,” he stuttered out.

“No excuses this time Lance,” Shiro said sternly. Lance’s mouth opened and closed uselessly as he glanced from one paladin to the other. A shout came from across the hanger where Pidge sat on her computer; she sprinted across to join the group.

“We got no data!” She yelled in his face. “All that work for nothing!” Lance’s eyes widened and he tried to explain himself over the sound of everyone else’s accusations. The stress from the past pain filled months caught up with him. The exhaustion of sleepless nights, and the helplessness he felt paired with the guilt building up from every failed training exercise and mission boiled over. A shudder wracked up his frame and his lip began trembling as he pulled it into his teeth. A sob escaped him as tears began to flow over his cheeks, he clutched his sides in his hands as the spasms continued. The paladins quieted and they watched the blue paladin break down in front of them in confusion.

“I-I’m s-sorry,” He hiccuped. “M-my back just h-h-hurts so bad,” he explained. Shiro immediately stepped forwards worry on his face.

“What? Did you get hurt during the mission?” He asked. Lance shook his head no and tried to explain.

“S-since the explosion, i-it hurts a-all the t-time,” he sobbed. “I c-can’t sleep, I-I can’t eat,” he walked forward into Shiro’s chest with a sob.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Or Coran?” He asked eyebrows furrowed in worry for the teenager.

“I didn’t k-know if i-it was that im-important,” Lance admitted. Shiro bit his bottom lip between his teeth, as tears filmed over his eyes. His teammate, his friend, had been in pain since they arrived in space and didn’t feel that it was important enough to ask for help. He gently hugged the paladin further into his chest. He could feel how bad Lance was trembling and felt his heart squeeze in sympathy. He picked the paladin up in his arms and started carrying him towards the quarters, the other paladins quietly following behind them.

“Rest up Lance, we can fix this,” Shiro said quietly. Lance could feel his eyelids growing heavy the further Shiro carried him from the hanger. The first signs of comfort for months, walking protectively around him.


	2. Chapter 2

After leaving the hangers, laying Lance one of the tables in the med bay felt like a sigh of relief. They crowded around him and waited patiently for him to wake up. They could see his muscles tense and relax, and his fingers twitch like he was being shocked.

“How did we not notice?” Hunk asked quietly rubbing a hand up and down Lance’s arm. The others looked down trying not to meet each other’s eyes. Their heads shot up when Lance let out a low groan and his eyelashes fluttered. He sluggishly opened his eyes and looked around at the people around him. He went to sit up but flinched and gave a small whimper collapsing back on the bed.

“Lance? How do you feel?” Hunk asked concerned. Lance turned his head slightly to look at him.

“Not too great buddy,” he said quietly, his voice hoarse from the crying he did earlier. Hunk bit his lip and looked down to the ground not knowing what to say. Before they were able to keep talking, Coran and Allura walked in with worried faces.

“What is happening?” Allura asked coming closer to the group.

“Its Lance’s back, its still hurting him from the explosion,” Pidge answered looking worriedly at her friend. Coran’s face dropped in shock and he pulled up the records from the pod.

“That’s not right, it says here that all his wound were successfully healed,” he reported looking back at the team. They exchanged glances before Shiro stepped forward slightly.

“Maybe humans heal differently,” he suggested. “We tend to have pain from healed injuries for a long time after we heal, what?” he asked looking at the baffled faces of the Alteans.

“You still feel pain from a wound that is healed?” Allura asked in horror. They traded looks with one another before hesitantly nodding to the two. Coran approached the table making sure that Lance was looking at him.

“Lance, if you don’t mind, I was wondering if I could take a look at your back,” he said. “There might be a way to help you if I look at it,”

Lance took a shaky breath in and looked at the far wall instead.

“I don’t know if you want to look at it Coran,” he said quietly. “Its pretty ugly,”

The whispered statement echoed loudly in the silence that engulfed the team. They gazed sadly at their teammate while he avoided everyone’s eyes. He seemed to curl into himself slightly and clenched his fists at his sides.

“Nonsense,” Coran said with a soft smile. Lance stopped and looked at the man who was grinning widely at the boy. He gave a short bark of laughter that made the others jump slightly.

“No really Coran, it’s not pretty at all,” he insisted. Coran only lifted a hand and ruffled his hair. Lance looked at the man in wonder, not daring to even breathe.

“When it comes to you Lance, it could be nothing short of beautiful,” he said quietly to Lance. Lance gasped and his eyes filled with water, he let out a choked sob and shuffled closer to the Altean letting himself be engulfed in a hug. Coran smiled and rubbed the boys back and rested his chin on the top of his head, letting quiet praises exit his mouth. Lance pulled back and turned his back to the others in the room and slowly unzipped the black suit letting it slid down his shoulders.

“Oh my,” Coran breathed out. He let his hand cover his mouth in shock when the black fabric settled around Lance’s waist.

“I told you, Coran,” Lance muttered staring blankly ahead at the far wall. They could only stare in morbid awe at the reddish pink scar tissue covering his entire back. It started at the base of his neck and extended to his tailbone and stretched the width of his shoulders. They could see that it was indented compared to the rest of his healthy skin and that they could see the knobs of his spine more clearly. Coran shook himself out of his shock and approached him grabbing a small tub of medicine as he walked closer.

“As I said before,” he said quietly opening the tub and spreading it slightly on Lance’s skin making him flinch when the cold cream touched him. “Nothing short of beautiful,”

For the first time that day, Lance let a smile spread across his face and looked at the man from over his shoulder. The others let out a breath of relief and once again crowded around the table to comfort Lance.

“So what can we do for him?” Shiro asked rubbing Lance’s arm comfortably. “Can we put him in the pod again and see if that takes away the pain?”

“Unfortunately, since the pod registers him as 100% healthy, it won’t activate,” Coran replied with a frown on his face. “This cream, however, works as both a painkiller and a restorative, we might be able to regenerate some of the skin that Lance lost and he won’t feel as much pain either!” Coran exclaimed holding up the tub of medicine he just put on Lance’s back. The paladins looked at it dubiously then looked at Lance, who quirked a confused eyebrow.

“So… someone has to rub Lance’s back every day?” Pidge asked hesitantly.

“Of course not!” Coran cheered gaining a sigh of relief from the paladins. “Twice, maybe three times a day!” The paladins let out various sounds of disgust and turned away.

“Yeah! One of you gets the privilege of rubbing Lancey Lance’s back!” Lance laughed crossing his arms and puffing out his chest.

“You’re gonna catch these hands, Lance,” Pidge threatened holding her fists up with a glint in her eye. He only giggled and swatted the fists away from himself.

“But, seriously guys you don’t have to, I’ll figure it out,” he said with a smile.

“Lance!” Shiro cried exasperatedly. “When will you realize that we are okay with this, even if we have to rub your gross nasty back,” Shiro said with a little smirk.

“Dad, betrayal,” Lance gasped putting a hand to his cheek in mocked shock. There was a beat of silence before everyone was laughing and they were able to forget about the heartbreaking events of earlier.

* * *

They were able to leave after half a varga and Shiro ended up rounding everyone up and meeting up in the lounge. They sat down with Lance in the middle, a fact that he was very aware of.

“Uh, guys?” He asked confused looking around at the solemn faces around him. “Is this some kind of intervention or something?” He laughed trying to bring up the mood in the room.

“Or something,” Shiro confirmed looking into Lance’s eyes. Lance flinched back, slightly put off by the seriousness in his leader’s eyes.

“We need to know why you kept something like this a secret from us,” Keith finished for him shuffling closer to the blue paladin. He looked at his friends and saw the worry that was etched into their faces.

“Yah dude, we could have been helping you with this all along,” Hunk stated, a wobbly tone to his voice. Lance swallowed and hung his head in shame, worrying the friends around him. He sniffed back the tears that were threatening to fall.

“It’s just that at home; since there were so many people to take care, I didn’t know when I was hurting enough for it to be important,” Lance admitted not looking at anybody’s face.

“But it was different this time, I couldn’t lay down without it hurting, and I got nauseous whenever I tried to eat so then I just felt bad all the time,” Lance whimpered curling into himself. “I’m sorry that I haven’t been doing good, I promise that I can get better,” he pleading suddenly facing Shiro. The leader felt a pang of sadness in his chest as he looked at the teen’s watery blue eyes. Even though they had visited the med bay and figured out how what was happening to him; he still believed that he was at fault. He gently encircled Lance in his arms and pressed the chestnut hair into his shoulder.

“Lance, you’ve done nothing but sacrifice for this team since day one,” Shiro said quietly. “You don’t have to promise us anything, we already know that you would do anything for this team,”

It only took a moment for Lance’s hand to clutch Shiro’s shirt and for him to burrow deeper in the embrace and let out a shaking sob. With that, the others launched themselves to join the two of them.

“You do realize that we wouldn’t be a team without you, right?” Hunk cried into Lance’s hair. The comment only made another sob tear it’s way out of his mouth. For the first time in many months, he felt like he could return to normal and enjoy the life that fate decided for him.

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit me at my Tumblr too!: https://blueplanettrash.tumblr.com/


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